From a Box Brownie, to the latest digital gear, it is all just tools, or a means of stating who we are, at various points in time. The sophistication of our images has more to do with our personal growth, than the equipment that we acquire along the way.

Friday, March 23, 2012

Quite a few years ago now, while we were still living in North Bay, Ont., there was a huge fire in the downtown area that totally destroyed the Richardson building. Unfortunately, it also was the place where my old friend, Jack Shepherd, had his studio and all of his many thousands of negatives and prints, as well as all of his 35mm and Medium format cameras and studio lighting. He was in the hospital at the time of this fire. In those days, if there was a huge fire, especially in the downtown core, I would show up and hope for a decent shot or two. In this particular scene, the firefighter had completely disappeared in the heavy thick brown dense smoke, and as the smoke started to dissapate, I had the camera at the ready, and held the shutter down for continous shooting at about 5 frames per second. This is one of the frames just as the firefighter started to reappear, and you can only see his head/helmet the top of the ladder with the hose shooting a steady stream of water down upon the burning structure. Now, these many years later, when we have things like computers and Photoshop editing software, I revisited this old negative. After scanning it on my 35mm Plustek film scanner, I used a few filters etc. and was able to make the dense smoke appear as very abstract red hot flames that surround the firefighter. To me, it speaks of the job that firefighters the world over do on a daily basis.....Smoke Eaters for sure! Hope you like it also

Wednesday, March 14, 2012

Another "winter" scene from the shores of Lake St. Clair beside Riverside Drive, Windsor. This young lady is catching a few rays as our City is hit with some very mild weather indeed. It is hard to believe that this is only March Break yet, and if one were to look 180 degrees from this scene, you would see little kids in their shorts splashing about in the lake. Somehow they don't seem to feel the cold like most adults do. The weather network says that from the looks of things, the temperatures will be in the high teens or low 20's for the next couple of weeks. The bike will certainly not sit idle this year, as most of the home projects and renos are done now.....

This shot is for John in North Bay. Apparently it has been quite warm there also, and there have been some film crews about town taking advantage of the mild winter weather. Today, Frank and I went for quite a lengthy bike ride...well it was for me as it was my first one this year. Yup, that's my "Harley" in the foreground. We eventually found our way down to the park beside Lake St. Clair just where it empties into the Detroit River. It was about 4:30 pm when I shot this and it was about +24 C at the time. The thing about Windsor is that the seasons change literally overnight sometimes, and I am still trying to get used to the temperatures actually rising during the night time hours. I guess it is due to "lake effects" weather here, although a lot of people will give global warming the credit for it. It really gives my wife and I a big chuckle when we hear local folks talk about they can't wait to go to Florida to escape the cold winters here.....It was a great bike ride on this March winters' day!

Monday, March 12, 2012

It has been such a hard winter in a lot of the country this year, and in other places like here in Windsor, winter was a non event. This is a shot of my neighbours car that caught my eye recently after a "wicked" snowfall of about 2 inches. It gave me a chuckle as I remembered the days when I would have to climb up on the roof of our home in the North, and use the snow scoop to remove the waist high snow to prevent the roof from caving in... Don't miss that at all, and my back is enjoying the "break" also.

Blomidon Boy's Blog

About Me

I was born in Deer Lake, on the western coast of Newfoundland in 1943. It was a privilege to grow up in the City of Corner Brook, Bay of Islands, Newfoundland. Moved to Ontario in 1962, and to North Bay in 1973 where we chose to raise our family. I was introduced to photography mainly by Mike de Moree and the late Jack Shepherd while living in North Bay. I am presently retired in Windsor, Ontario, where I can be close to my family again. My photography is for my personal pleasure, and hopefully it will help make my retirement years more meaningful to me and others as well.
Hope you enjoy.
For a larger view of images, click on the image, and then press F11.